Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi has denied reports that Yemen signed a deal with Russia for purchasing weapons during the last visit of President Saleh to the country in late June.

Yemen opens its ports before warships to refuel and get other supplies but this never means agreement for establishing military bases in the Yemeni territorial waters, he said.

Al-Qirbi's remarks were given during an interview with Mahattat Magazine.

President Saleh's visit to Russia was aimed at discussing means to forge the bilateral economic cooperation and inviting Russian investors to come to Yemen, he said.

Russians planned big investments in Yemen but the political situation affected decisions over them, he said, pointing out that President Saleh wanted to assure Russians their investments would be safe and receive special care and facilities.

The reports over a Yemeni-Russian arms deal worth over one billion USD were untrue, and if Yemen wanted to buy arms, as the reports said, it is unnecessary that the president goes to Russia, he made clear.

However, he said the two countries held negotiations over Yemen's previous agreements for buying ammunitions and military equipment but they were not that cost billions of dollars.

On July 01, reports surfaced quoting a Russian official saying Yemen was expected to sign a more than one billion USD contract with Russia for purchasing a range of arms and military technology and systems.

Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of Global Arms Trade Think Tank, said Yemen is largely interested in Russian arms and military technology.

'Yemen, one of Russian arms clients, sought to buy, first and foremost, 30 multi-role MIG-29SMT fighters; Mi-35 attack helicopters, Ka-52 helicopters and Mi-17 transport helicopters; T-72 and M1 tanks; a Kornet-E anti-tank missile system; 20 smirch multiple-launch rocket systems; and BMP3 armored personnel carriers.'

Yemen also planned to set up an air defense system based on S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems and buy naval technology including speedboats, he said.

During the interview, the minister also said that Friends of Yemen have already identified the support priorities for the country.

He said friends are demanding for making concessions to the Yemeni opposition to make the political dialogue a success.

But he said any external intervention in a national dialogue will lead to imposing unhelpful agenda and affect the interest of Yemen.